[geeks] UNIX development and makefile discussion

[microcode at zoho.com]

On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 05:54:28PM +0200, Jochen Kunz wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:04:39 +0000
> microcode at zoho.com wrote:
> 
> > I have heard of cmake and of course autotools but I don't know big a project
> > has to be before that stuff starts making sense.
> Depends on your preferences. I use cmake for anything of more then
> probably three or four files. I definately use it when I build a
> (shared) library.
> 
> > What really strikes me
> > about UNIX is how much the tools get in my way and take up much of my time.
> Learning curve. The tools will free much of your time once you got used
> to them. ;-)

I'll believe it when I believe it! The best thing would have been not to
need them in the first place.

> > > Think of it as "meta-make". cmake eases the tedious process of writing
> > >  makefiles and organizing them considerably. 
> > At this point writing makefiles isn't a major issue for me.
> cmake does more. E.g. it scans dependencies, inside your project and to
> external dependencies. It builds install targets. It cares about the
> details of linking and building (shared) libraries. It assists you in
> setting up compile time options, ...

That's interesting. How can it determine dependencies? Does it scan source?
What if the source isn't C? How does it determine external dependencies?
This all sounds very powerful...